Douglas Hoekzema, also known as Hoxxoh, is a Miami-based artist who has gained international recognition for his innovative approach to contemporary art. With a background in architecture, his works are characterized by intricate patterns, vibrant colors, and a focus on rhythm and repetition.
How did you get into art?
I started painting just over 25 years ago now and painted my first wall back in high school at the age of 15 back in 1995. I was fortunate enough to have parents that immediately supported my interest in art and encouraged the balance between studio and public artwork from the offset. It was at this time that my relationship with the graft crew MSG (Miami Graffiti Style) began. Once I graduated, I went onto study arts at university and gained a master’s degree in architecture, with a double major in art history and painting, and a minor in philosophy. I’m grateful to say that during that 25-year period, I can say that for the past 10 years, I have been a full-time practicing artist and it is my career as well as my passion.
How would you describe your style? What makes your work special?
I paint using projection and dripping techniques to give life to fluid painterly shapes and patterns embedded in a philosophical approach. Through repetitions and analyses, I have managed to recreate the characteristic harmony of contingency, revealing the aesthetic qualities of controlled chaos.
How do you go about developing your work?
My work is ever-evolving in style. I like to emphasize mark-making, and color, and use mechanized paint application instruments. My use of hand-engineered mechanisms allows each new series to represent not only a new time in my life but also an entirely new technique of painting. If I had to quickly describe my work to some, I would say that I’m a painter that’s focused on mechanisms and non-traditional mark-making tools. The Aerosol can, or spray paint was the beginning of my development and investigation, which has led to paint pendulums, pans, trays, industrial airless paint sprayers, and irrigation systems; sprinklers, and a mechanism I have aptly coined “The RainBird.” By developing a language of marks and patterns through painting in pure abstractions and currently moving in a direction of surrealism.
Who or what influences you?
From the beginning and throughout my career as an artist I have always been fascinated with pictorial projection techniques. At the time there were very few graffiti artist or street artists who had evolved into these methods but one artist who paved the way for myself and I am sure many others were Futura 2000 his abstract street art; blurring virtual reality and hyperrealism with a retro-futuristic twist, confirmed my approach and inspired me to continue of this path.
Of late my main inspiration has been nature. Although I live in a city, I have made a point of taking myself away from the mix of sound; horns, traffic, alarms, and the footsteps of humans to taking long hikes, camping, and kayaking. I’m fascinated by the correlation between order and chaos that is found through the forces of nature.
Make us curious. What is planned next?
Currently, I’ve been creating paintings in my studio and then scaling them up for murals. I enjoy reacting to the challenges of working with my limitations and trying to discover ways to change those limitations. How can I find moments or patterns in chaos and then re-create those moments? I like to create situations for discovering a new mark or pattern. For example... I’ll find a spot on the floor in my studio and then I’ll try to figure out how the accident happened then re-create that situation.
As the summer approaches I’m getting ready for mural festival season. I’m heading out to Gothenburg, Sweden in June to paint the country’s largest mural. From there, Amsterdam, Brussels, Grenoble, Italy…and then who knows
